Chalkboards have been used for generations in schoolrooms and other learning environments. More recently, so-called "whiteboards" have become popular in the same environments. A whiteboard consists of a large white surface which can be drawn upon with erasable markers. Such erasable markers or pens are available in a number of colors. A whiteboard is generally easier to write on than a chalkboard and is also easier to erase. Furthermore, drawings on a whiteboard are usually easier to see than drawings on a chalkboard.
Although chalkboards have traditionally been used in classrooms, whiteboards have become popular in a number of business environments. For instance, whiteboards are often located in the offices of corporate employees. In this environment, whiteboards are used for notes, lists, and as an aid to visualizing concepts.
In addition, whiteboards are often used to facilitate group discussions and idea generating sessions, in both individual offices and in larger settings such as conference or meeting rooms. When the whiteboard is used for this purpose, an individual typically sketches ideas on the whiteboard while discussing the ideas with other individuals. Others might add to the discussion and the sketch during the course of a meeting. Generally, the whiteboard serves to record and visualize the meeting discussions.
In many cases, the ideas and corresponding sketches generated during a meeting turn out to have some value, and the meeting participants therefore desire to record the whiteboard sketches and/or data. Depending on available time and energy, this can be accomplished by hand with different degrees of accuracy and completeness.
To avoid the need for manually copying whiteboard drawings, whiteboards are available with integrated reproduction capabilities. When a whiteboard drawing reaches a stage that needs to be recorded, a meeting participant pushes a button, and the device prints a reduced-size reproduction of the whiteboard drawing. This is an extremely valuable convenience. Panasonic brand models KX-520 and KX-530 are examples of whiteboard devices like this.
Although whiteboards such as these work well in conjunction with collaborative efforts, they are not as convenient in meetings where prepared presentations are made. In these meetings, presenters often use pre-drawn sketches or graphics; manually sketching such graphics on a whiteboard during a presentation would be awkward and distracting. Accordingly, such graphics are presented using pre-printed transparencies in conjunction with an overhead projector. More recently, laptop computers are used in conjunction with large-format video monitors or projection devices to present pre-prepared graphics. Such graphics are commonly referred to as "slides."
Some meetings, of course, involve both presentations and collaboration. Such meetings often involve various types of equipment to meet the needs of the various participants. For example, a meeting might start with a presentation made in conjunction with computer-generated slides. At some point, a more general discussion might begin and the focus shifts to a whiteboard. Often, it is necessary to start the whiteboard discussion with something that was previously shown on one of the computer-generated slides, requiring one of the participants to duplicate the slide with a pen on the whiteboard.